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Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts

It’s already December (how did that happen?!) which means two things: 1.) I can officially
start celebrating Christmas now that Thanksgiving has past and 2.) I also need
to give you one last pumpkin recipe before I go in to gingerbread/hot chocolate/peppermint mode. So -- Pumpkin Pie Pop-tarts!

Now, it is quite possible
that the non American readers have never heard of Pop-tarts. Let me explain: Pop-tarts are an American breakfast treat, consisting of a rectangular piece of pastry
with filling (there are fruit, chocolate fillings, or cinnamon fillings) and a thin
layer of icing, sometimes topped with sprinkles. My mom rarely ever bought them
for us (they fall far outside the realm of a healthy breakfast) and therefore they
were considered a special treat, enjoyed only at the houses of our friends with
less health conscious mothers. Now that I’m older, I can see Pop-tarts for what
they really are -- tasty, yes, but tasty in the way that only junk food can be,
yummy and good to satisfy a quick sugar craving, but by no means perfect. The
pastry doesn’t have a ton of flavor, the filling and icing are often overly
sweet, and they usually taste better when toasted (but we don’t always have a
toaster on hand, now do we?!) Pop-tarts, I knew, are a great concept but would
certainly be much approved when homemade, when the pastry can be buttery and
flaky, the filling fresher with more flavor beyond just sweet.

The verdict then: how right
I was! The homemade pastry was divine, a million times better than the
store bought Pop-tart, just as buttery and flaky as I’d hoped, and don’t get me
started about the filling, which, as you might have guessed, tastes exactly like Pumpkin Pie, creamy and
smooth and loaded with cinnamon and ginger (essentially, this is a sneaky way to
eat Pumpkin Pie and have it look like breakfast instead of dessert). I was
worried that the icing would be too sweet and overpower the Pop-tart, but I have
tried both versions, and have found that the icing is the finishing touch that
makes these really special, that compliments the filling and the crust without
overpowering them. Indeed, if you have one last can of pumpkin in your cupboard
to use up to close out Pumpkin season as we head towards Christmas, use it to
make these! Enjoy everyone! 1000 times better than your regular pop-tart; enough pumpkin.

PUMPKIN PIE POP-TARTS

Ingredients:

Crust

2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose
flour, plus more for rolling

1 tsp salt

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, cold
and diced into 1/2-inch cubes

4 - 5 Tbsp ice water

Filling

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup softened cream cheese

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 Tbsp packed light-brown
sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

1 pinch salt

1 large egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp half and half, plus
more as needed

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

For the crust: In a food processor pulse
together flour, salt and granulated sugar. Add butter and pulse mixture until
resembles coarse meal. Add 4 Tbsp water and
pulse several times, if it doesn't come together in clumps add remaining 1 Tbsp
water. Drop mixture onto a clean surface, gather dough into a ball then divide
into two equal portions. Shape each into a ball and cover with
plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour. Meanwhile prepare the filling.

For the pumpkin pie filling: To a mixing bowl, add cream
cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Using electric beaters, beat together the pumpkin and the sugars. Next, the lay the pumpkin
puree on several layers of paper towels. Wrap and press to soak some of the
excess moisture from pumpkin, until you have 3/4 cup pumpkin puree. Add the reduced pumpkin puree to the cream cheese mixture along with the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg,
allspice and salt. I ended up adding more spices here as usual, so start with the quantity above and then add more if you wish. Stir everything together well. Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Cover the bowl and
chill the filling until ready to assemble pop tarts.

To assemble pop-tarts: Grease a large baking sheet. Working with 1 chilled disk of
dough at a time, roll the dough out onto a floured
surface. Cut the dough into 8 rectangles.

Arrange 4 of the rectangles,
spaced evenly apart on prepared baking sheet. Spread a slightly heaping 1 1/2
tablespoons of pumpkin pie filling evenly down the center of each rectangle,
leaving about a 3/4-inch rim on all sides uncoated. Dampen fingertips with
water and run along uncoated
edges of pop tarts. Top each with another rectangle, then seal edges with your
fingertips, then reseal with a fork or just use your fingertips. Poke the top center of each tart 3 times with a fork. Cover and
transfer to freezer to chill at least 2 hours or refrigerate overnight. Repeat this process
with remaining disk of dough.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake frozen tarts until golden,
rotating racks once halfway through baking, about 25 - 30 minutes. Allow to
cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool
completely before icing.

For the icing: In a mixing bowl whisk
together all icing ingredients well then add more half and half about 1/2 tsp
at a time to reach desired consistency. Spread over tops of cooled pop tarts,
leaving a small rim uncoated around all sides. Sprinkle tops with sprinkles if
desired and allow glaze to set at room temperature. Store in an airtight
container.